Ce Ce Cuts Back to One Turn in Princess Rooney

After finishing fourth in the Santa Maria Stakes (G2) in May at Santa Anita Park, Ce Ce will try sprinting in the $350,000 Princess Rooney Invitational Stakes (G2) July 3 at Gulfstream Park.

Bo Hirsch's Ce Ce is the most accomplished runner of eight fillies and mares entered in Saturday's seven-furlong test, one of the featured events on the Summit of Speed card. 

While Ce Ce's stakes wins have all come at two turns, the 5-year-old Elusive Quality  mare opened this season with a win in a seven-furlong allowance level race in April at Santa Anita. Trainer Michael McCarthy hopes the change-up in distance will help the two-time grade 1 winner get untracked at the stakes level.

"I thought the seven-eighths would be a wonderful distance for her," said McCarthy, who also had considered the 1 1/16-mile Ogden Phipps (G1) June 5 at Belmont Park. "It looks like there might be some rain down there this week, and I think she might like a wet-fast racetrack."

Last year Ce Ce won back-to-back grade 1 events in late winter and spring, taking the Beholder Mile Stakes at Santa Anita in March before delivering a narrow victory in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park. With a win Saturday where she is the 3-1 second-choice on the morning-line, Ce Ce would surpass $1 million in earnings.

Since the Apple Blossom, Ce Ce has lost five straight stakes tries but has remained competitive—picking up third-place finishes in last year's Santa Maria and Clement L. Hirsch (G1) stakes as well as a fifth-place finish in the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). McCarthy thinks the Gulfstream surface may be a better fit for Ce Ce than tracks in Southern California.

"She had a nice little break after the Breeders' Cup. I thought her race in the Breeders' Cup Distaff was sneaky good," McCarthy said. "It was always our plan to give her some time off. She's come back good. These racetracks in California have gotten deeper and gotten looser. They don't seem to suit her."

McCarthy is familiar with winning big races at Gulfstream. In 2019 he sent out City of Light   to victory in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) there.

"City of Light's win in the Pegasus was a nice introduction to Gulfstream," McCarthy said. "We came back to Gulfstream for the Pegasus this year with Independence Hall, who I thought ran a very good third. It's a racetrack we've performed well at. We're obviously expecting more of the same this weekend."

The morning-line favorite in the Princess Rooney is Estilo Talentoso , who enters off a victory in the Bed o' Roses Stakes (G3) June 4 at Belmont. The 4-year-old daughter of Maclean's Music   drew the rail.

The Princess Rooney runners will be looking to punch their tickets to the Breeders' Cup as the race carries "Win and You're In" status to the Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). 

Entries: Princess Rooney Invitational S. (G2)

Gulfstream Park, Saturday, July 03, 2021, Race 11

• Grade II
• 7f
• Dirt
• $350,000
• 3 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 5:35 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Estilo Talentoso (KY)	Javier Castellano	122	Juan Arriagada	5/2
2	2Heiressall (FL)	Miguel Angel Vasquez	120	Teresa M. Pompay	20/1
3	3Thissmytime (FL)	Emisael Jaramillo	120	Kathleen O'Connell	6/1
4	4Pacific Gale (KY)	Romero Ramsay Maragh	124	John C. Kimmel	4/1
5	5Ce Ce (KY)	Victor Espinoza	126	Michael W. McCarthy	3/1
6	6Laura's Light (KY)	Florent Geroux	122	Peter Miller	7/2
7	7Hallawallah (KY)	Hector Isaac Berrios	120	Juan Carlos Avila	20/1
8	8Sound Machine (FL)	Edgard J. Zayas	120	Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.	12/1